ghost town gold.

The Hotel Meade

There really is a sigh of relief in the Cowles home every time the weekend arrives. It is almost always followed by “What should we do today?” Some days we do something that we’ve been planning to do and other days we go somewhere really random. This weekend was one of the most random ways to spend a St. Patrick’s Day. We drove for 2 hours up Montana to a Ghost Town outside Dillon with our friends Rex and Jessica. Before hitting the road, Jase and I made hit a deli in town to make sandwiches for the road. We picked out smoked ham, Swiss and Comte cheeses, and in the spirit of St. Patty’s Day– green-dyed bread. It was kind of awesome. 

Making delicious green sandwiches

The last hour of the drive was very beautiful. We passed herds of buffalo and Jason saw a Bald Eagle perching on a telephone pole. Clark Canyon Reservoir was frozen over and the boys foolishly walked out on the water to test the thickness of the ice. I slept most of the way, but awoke when we finally arrived in freezing, middle of nowhere Dillon. Ghost towns are really creepy. This is the first one that I've been to so I don’t know how others are, but this one was just a main street of small houses with the occasional schoolhouse, church, hotel, or small jail. Because it is winter time, we were basically the only people there and the sky was gray and overcast so it was even creepier than I think it would normally be. 

At first I was kind of excited, but if you know me well enough, you know that almost everything scares me. Although I know “ghost town” doesn’t mean there are actual ghosts, (not that I believe in ghosts) but it was still chilling. Anyway, this town was a mining town founded in 1862 where there was a great amount of gold discovered, but the population dwindled when the gold ran out. (It made me laugh that we were here on the day we should've been searching for a pot o' gold) Perhaps the most telling history is Bannack’s sheriff: Henry Plummer. Plummer and his gang was accused for over a hundred murders in the Bannack gold fields and trails to Salt Lake City and was hung without a trial. While we were there, I couldn't help thinking about the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland with the “ghosts” dancing around – I tried to picture what life was like here during its peak. 

One creepy, old town

I ended up loving the town. It was  something completely new to me. I would love to go to another one someday.My dumb camera died, so we didn’t get many pictures, but you get the idea. We ended our St. Patrick’s Day by going to McDonald’s to get, what else, shamrock shakes . . . oh wait, that’s right, they ran out by the time we got there! What a let-down. I sufficed with a strawberry shake.

our perfect day.

    Jason and I were married on August 13, 2011. I can honestly say that it was the best day of my life and I wouldn't change one thing about it. We were so grateful for all of the support and love we felt that day. We could not have had a more perfect day without the help of our parents and all those who helped with our wedding. We had so much fun being with everyone we love and we are probably one of the few people that can say it was all captured perfectly by our amazing photographer, Jean Smith. Enjoy!!

Mr. and Mrs. Cowles

Just taking a break from all the kissy poses

Jason's favorite

Our temple

Cut me another slice

Jason jokes that this is a Nike ad

He is so adorable

I'm grateful our friends could be here to share this day with us

GQ poses

I loved seeing Jason with his friends

The groomsmen

The bridesmaids

Plum Hollow Country Club was the perfect place to take pictures

Sam is definitely next or the only one left

None of this could have been possible without her

The newest additions to my family

I love all my friends

"Watch the feet Jay"

"Butterfly Kisses"

"Home"

Cee Lo Green's "Forget You" 

once there was a snowman.

Before we had these past few days of crazy snow, Jason and I had to drive to the snow to play in it. A few weekends ago, our buddy Ryan came up from Provo to visit us and Rex. I was so excited for our weekend together (and I had some time to kill) that I made cupcakes! They turned out perfectly and they were delicious. I was excited to make something and share it with people so Jason and I didn’t have 24 cupcakes staring at us all week.

Saturday, we woke up early to head to Grand Targhee in Wyoming (only an hour drive) to do some snowboarding. After getting bundled up, we split so Jase and I could start on the green run again (easy). I actually did really well this time. I kept following the same path every time, but at least I didn’t fall.

I think this face means I'm cold.

Ready!

Later, the boys convinced me to try a blue run (difficult). I didn’t freak out too much, until I got to the top of the tall, tall hill. It was really hard to see way up there because it was snowing really hard and kind of foggy. The paths were a lot more narrow leading to the top of the actual slope. When Jason sat at the ledge, I thought he was joking. I couldn’t believe people could go down a slope so steep. After watching Jason go first, I sat on my bum and tried to stand up, but I ended up sliding down a few feet before actually getting up. I made it all the way down without wiping out – what an accomplishment! Overall, we had a fantastic time at Targhee and it was fun to go with friends this time.

Another weekend, Jason wanted to build a snowman really bad. Again, at this time there wasn’t any snow by us at all. We ended up driving a little past Ashton until we found huge piles of snow. We weren’t sure of the best place to stop and build, so we pulled over next to a Targhee National Park sign – we figured we’d be safe there. We wanted to play in the snow closer to the woods, but when we tried walking toward them, our entire lower body sunk into the snow – so we stayed near the sign. The snow was not very good packing snow, but we tried our best to make ol’ Frosty. I’m pretty sure it was at least 20 degrees colder there than in Rexburg because my fingers were frozen. After a long struggle, we managed to make a 1 foot tall snowman. We toped him off with the things from our snowman kit, took a picture, and drove to get some nice hot… oops, I mean cold root beer floats (we can’t drive through Ashton and not go to Frostop’s for their awesome floats and fries). Even without the snow, it's still freezing here and I'm ready for the spring time.

He's pretty cute

Haha the size comparison to the sign.

Mmm. . .